Defense Rests In Small Kidnap

May 22, 1988|By Andrew Fegelman, Chicago Tribune.

KANKAKEE — Attorneys for Daniel Edwards, charged with kid-naping and killing Kankakee busi-nessman Stephen Small, called only a single witness in his defense Saturday, then rested their case. Edwards did not testify in his own defense, and the jury is expected to begin deliberations Monday.

Rather than disputing any of the evidence presented during the prosecution`s case-including fingerprints and other physical evi-dence linking Edwards to the box in which Small was buried alive-the defense consisted solely of a drug agent`s testimony about Edwards` cooperation last year in an investigation.

Defense attorneys Sheldon Reagan and Thomas Allen had wanted to establish to the jury that their client was acting on the orders of drug kingpins at the time when he is accused of abducting Small last Sept. 2. Instead, after Kankakee County Circuit Judge John Michela limited what testimony could be presented, they may only have confused the jurors.

The witness, Ernest Richardson, a drug agent with the Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group, said in court that after Edwards, 31, was arrested on drug charges in January, 1987, he agreed to lead investigators to his drug supplier.

Richardson said Edwards, wearing a concealed microphone, met three times with the supplier to set up a drug buy. None of the efforts succeeded, Richardson testified.

In an attempt to reveal that Edwards feared for his life as a result of his cooperation with authorities, Allen asked the drug agent to characterize Edwards` demeanor. But Michela, ruling on an objection from Assistant Atty. Gen. Michael Ficaro, curtailed the response, and Richardson said only that Edwards hesitated to cooperate.

The alleged drug dealer, Mitchell Leavitt, 23, of Mt. Prospect, was arrested by Illinois State Police March 22, about two weeks after Edwards identified him during a court hearing as his supplier.

In his cross-examination, Ficaro tried to indicate that Edwards`

cooperation with authorities was solely for his own benefit.

Asked by the prosecutor whether Edwards was facing a prison sentence of 6 to 30 years as a result of the drug charge, Richardson responded that he was. Defense attorneys contended in opening arguments that Small, 40, was killed by accident because the box in which he was buried had a poorly rigged ventilation system.

Closing arguments are scheduled Monday.

Edwards is facing charges of aggravated kidnaping and murder, and if convicted he could be sentenced to death.

Also charged in connection with the abduction is Edwards` girlfriend, Nancy Rish, 26, who is expected to be tried later this year.